Chronological Plan

¹Then Job replied:

²“Listen carefully to my words; let this be the consolation you give me.

³Bear with me while I speak, and after I have spoken, mock on.

⁴“Is my complaint directed to a human being? Why should I not be impatient?

⁵Look at me and be appalled; clap your hand over your mouth.

⁶When I think about this, I am terrified; trembling seizes my body.

⁷Why do the wicked live on, growing old and increasing in power?

⁸They see their children established around them, their offspring before their eyes.

⁹Their homes are safe and free from fear; the rod of God is not on them.

¹⁰Their bulls never fail to breed; their cows calve and do not miscarry.

¹¹They send forth their children as a flock; their little ones dance about.

¹²They sing to the music of timbrel and lyre; they make merry to the sound of the pipe.

¹³They spend their years in prosperity and go down to the grave in peace.

¹⁴Yet they say to God, ‘Leave us alone! We have no desire to know your ways.

¹⁵Who is the Almighty, that we should serve him? What would we gain by praying to him?’

¹⁶But their prosperity is not in their own hands, so I stand aloof from the plans of the wicked.

¹⁷“Yet how often is the lamp of the wicked snuffed out? How often does calamity come upon them, the fate God allots in his anger?

¹⁸How often are they like straw before the wind, like chaff swept away by a gale?

¹⁹It is said, ‘God stores up the punishment of the wicked for their children.’ Let him repay the wicked, so that they themselves will experience it!

²⁰Let their own eyes see their destruction; let them drink the cup of the wrath of the Almighty.

²¹For what do they care about the families they leave behind when their allotted months come to an end?

²²“Can anyone teach knowledge to God, since he judges even the highest?

²³One person dies in full vigor, completely secure and at ease,

²⁴well nourished in body, bones rich with marrow.

²⁵Another dies in bitterness of soul, never having enjoyed anything good.

²⁶Side by side they lie in the dust, and worms cover them both.

²⁷“I know full well what you are thinking, the schemes by which you would wrong me.

²⁸You say, ‘Where now is the house of the great, the tents where the wicked lived?’

²⁹Have you never questioned those who travel? Have you paid no regard to their accounts—

³⁰that the wicked are spared from the day of calamity, that they are delivered from the day of wrath?

³¹Who denounces their conduct to their face? Who repays them for what they have done?

³²They are carried to the grave, and watch is kept over their tombs.

³³The soil in the valley is sweet to them; everyone follows after them, and a countless throng goes before them.

³⁴“So how can you console me with your nonsense? Nothing is left of your answers but falsehood!”

¹Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:

²“Can a man be of benefit to God? Can even a wise person benefit him?

³What pleasure would it give the Almighty if you were righteous? What would he gain if your ways were blameless?

⁴“Is it for your piety that he rebukes you and brings charges against you?

⁵Is not your wickedness great? Are not your sins endless?

⁶You demanded security from your relatives for no reason; you stripped people of their clothing, leaving them naked.

⁷You gave no water to the weary and you withheld food from the hungry,

⁸though you were a powerful man, owning land— an honored man, living on it.

⁹And you sent widows away empty-handed and broke the strength of the fatherless.

¹⁰That is why snares are all around you, why sudden peril terrifies you,

¹¹why it is so dark you cannot see, and why a flood of water covers you.

¹²“Is not God in the heights of heaven? And see how lofty are the highest stars!

¹³Yet you say, ‘What does God know? Does he judge through such darkness?

¹⁴Thick clouds veil him, so he does not see us as he goes about in the vaulted heavens.’

¹⁵Will you keep to the old path that the wicked have trod?

¹⁶They were carried off before their time, their foundations washed away by a flood.

¹⁷They said to God, ‘Leave us alone! What can the Almighty do to us?’

¹⁸Yet it was he who filled their houses with good things, so I stand aloof from the plans of the wicked.

¹⁹The righteous see their ruin and rejoice; the innocent mock them, saying,

²⁰‘Surely our foes are destroyed, and fire devours their wealth.’

²¹“Submit to God and be at peace with him; in this way prosperity will come to you.

²²Accept instruction from his mouth and lay up his words in your heart.

²³If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored: If you remove wickedness far from your tent

²⁴and assign your nuggets to the dust, your gold of Ophir to the rocks in the ravines,

²⁵then the Almighty will be your gold, the choicest silver for you.

²⁶Surely then you will find delight in the Almighty and will lift up your face to God.

²⁷You will pray to him, and he will hear you, and you will fulfill your vows.

²⁸What you decide on will be done, and light will shine on your ways.

²⁹When people are brought low and you say, ‘Lift them up!’ then he will save the downcast.

³⁰He will deliver even one who is not innocent, who will be delivered through the cleanness of your hands.”

¹Then Job replied:

²“Even today my complaint is bitter; his hand is heavy in spite of my groaning.

³If only I knew where to find him; if only I could go to his dwelling!

⁴I would state my case before him and fill my mouth with arguments.

⁵I would find out what he would answer me, and consider what he would say to me.

⁶Would he vigorously oppose me? No, he would not press charges against me.

⁷There the upright can establish their innocence before him, and there I would be delivered forever from my judge.

⁸“But if I go to the east, he is not there; if I go to the west, I do not find him.

⁹When he is at work in the north, I do not see him; when he turns to the south, I catch no glimpse of him.

¹⁰But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold.

¹¹My feet have closely followed his steps; I have kept to his way without turning aside.

¹²I have not departed from the commands of his lips; I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my daily bread.

¹³“But he stands alone, and who can oppose him? He does whatever he pleases.

¹⁴He carries out his decree against me, and many such plans he still has in store.

¹⁵That is why I am terrified before him; when I think of all this, I fear him.

¹⁶God has made my heart faint; the Almighty has terrified me.

¹⁷Yet I am not silenced by the darkness, by the thick darkness that covers my face.